Winners announced! First-ever Heads of the Valleys Innovation Awards

Celebrating innovation and business success

11 July 2007:  More than 120 people attended the first ever Heads of the Valleys Innovation Awards and Marketplace at the Parkway Hotel, Cwmbran. The Awards celebrate and reward the most innovative businesses in the area.  Businesses gained recognition for business activities they have implemented that have had a dramatic and beneficial impact.

Phil Burkhard, Manager of the Heads of the Valleys Innovation Programme (HOVIP) commented, “Innovation is important for any business to stay ahead of the game.  We were thrilled to have received so many entries for this inaugural Innovation Awards.  It is an excellent example of how much innovative activity is happening in the Heads of the Valleys area.”

“The five winners of the inaugural Heads of the Valleys Innovation Awards are shining examples of innovation in action and demonstrate the significant contribution businesses like these are making to the economy of the area.”

Huw Lewis, Minister for Regeneration said, “I’m delighted by the success of the awards ceremony. It’s excellent news for the economy of the Heads of the Valleys area to see the support that HOVIP can provide to help them face the challenges they encounter and to thrive.”

The winners are:
Most Innovative Social Enterprise -sponsored by NESTA: Garnsychan Partnership for their Wood Wise recycling project.

Most Innovative Sole Trader - sponsored by HSBC: Purple Prose for their ‘Leading Ladies’ calendar.

Most Innovative Business with less than 20 employees - sponsored by KTS Owens Thomas:
Joint winners:  Royvon Dog Training Schools, for their Customer Relationship Management system linked to customer reporting

and International Technical Diving Agency Ltd for their new world diver training standard.

Most Innovative Business with more than 20 employees - sponsored by BT: Penn Pharmaceutical Services Ltd for their cross functional Fast Track Team

Royvon Dog Training Schools has had almost 50 years to refine its service as the first and leading residential training school, and while residential training will always be their niche, they recognise the need for a realm of options to be available to complete the training experience and address customer service demands.  As a result, Royvon has a strong history of success in  establishing trends, setting the pace and maintaining their edge within the industry.

Royvon operates from two schools, one in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales and another in Esher, Surrey.  The combined schools employ approximately 30 Team members and can accommodate up to 100 dogs at any given time, and although Royvon has a collection and delivery service, customers will travel from far corners of the UK to visit either school and enrol their dog in a course. 

They've had the pleasure of training a host of celebrity dogs and owners, including Ant & Dec as part of their 2005 "Saturday Night Takeaway" challenge, and two of the contestants for 2007's immensely popular "The Underdog Show".  Further celebrities include a London-based Supermodel, top Britain sitcom actor, member of Westlife, renown horse jockey and other highly recognised celebrity talent. 

Additionally, Royvon has been honoured in the business world with a first place award for Best Use of a CRM Solution for SMEs in the prestigious Technology for Marketing Award (TFM) 2007, joint winner of the Heads of the Valley Innovation Awards (HOVIP) 2007, and the first HOV business, in the IWI / Heads of the Valleys Innovation Programme Pilot, to be approved as a best practice host.  Royvon was also awarded accreditation with the Investors in People and Green Dragon environmental policy.

Royvon's Purpose is to enhance the quality of life for dogs and their owners and they will continue to expand the business and offer high value services for generations to come.

For further information about the Heads of the Valleys Innovation Programme, please visit www.hovip.org.uk.

A well trained dog is a happy dog!